December 2014: what we did this year in Lebanon
Again this year Lebanon Trust volunteers went to Lebanon to work at the Father Andeweg Institute for the Deaf (FAID) in Beirut and to deliver financial support to the kindergarten of the refugee camp of Chatila, in Beirut. The total amount donated to these institutions slightly exceeded last year’s.
The situation facing our volunteers this year was even more difficult than in 2013. Atrocities and war from neighbouring Syria spill across the border to Lebanon, creating a very volatile climate. The city of Tripoli, in the north of the country, is locked in conflict. Syrian refugees now represent more than one-quarter of the total population of Lebanon, causing friction with both Lebanese and Palestinian residents.
Our volunteers’ mobility was curtailed for security reasons.
This is a summary of our achievements in 2014:
- Funding for 1 year of speech therapy for the students of the Father Andeweg Institute for the Deaf (FAID) in Beirut. The speech therapist teaches them how to speak and lip-read, giving them the chance to communicate with the wider world and build an independent life. Total: $ 8000
- Ongoing financial support to the kindergarten of the refugee camp of Chatila in Beirut: $ 3000
- Evaluation of the work done by the Institutions we support and discussion of their plans and needs; meetings with FAID’s new management (President of the Board, Treasurer, Director), with the staff and pupils; further definition of our mode of collaboration
- Field visit to the Chatila refugee camp in Beirut and its kindergarten, meeting with the teachers and the children; inspection of the electricity generator premises, financed last year by Lebanon Trust
- Refurbishment, painting, maintenance, reconstruction work at the premises of the Father Andeweg Institute for the Deaf: girls’ dormitory, parent-teacher conference room, teachers’ office, including windows and doors; maintenance of playground, garden, courtyard, outside perimeter; pruning of all trees, removal of dead or dangerous branches and plants. The tools and material have been purchased by Lebanon Trust, and the work carried out by the volunteers themselves and by local staff paid by Lebanon Trust: $ 560.
- Organisation of a visit to FAID by a 10-person delegation from the Symantec Corporation’s Beirut office; the company will help upgrade the school’s computer infrastructure.
As every year, our donors will receive a detailed financial report.
